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Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

So I grabbed The Oddboxx from the Steam sale and I'm trying to get into the first one, Abe's Oddysee.... I honestly can't remember the last time I've been so frustrated by a game. I hooked it up to my 360 controller and I feel like it is actively trying to piss me off. I can't get my avatar to stand on next to a lever or an npc to talk to them, and I'm about ready to uninstall this crap and go on to the next one (or Munch's Oddysee, if Exodus is just as frustrating)

Any tips? Should I use my keyboard? The controls honestly feel like ass to me.

From memory, the control scheme was a bit strange. You'll probably be best with the keyboard. It has that old school prince-of-persia style of forced turning, where changing direction is an arduous process.

Yeah, it was the "can't turn without moving" that was getting really frustrating to me. I'll give it a go with keyboard in a couple of days when I've settled down, because by the 15th time I died trying to sneak+turn around+stand next to the damn lever but really just waking up the guard I was about ready to throw my controller at the wall.

I'm completely bemused by control complaints for this. Maybe it was just my 10 or so year old brain that quickly picked up on them, but never had any problems with them, bar the occasional difficulty timing jumps when running, particularly when on that creature. I bought the OddBoxx in the Steam Christmas and had no problems playing it now.

I got Abe's Exoddus on the Steamsale, played with keyboard and didn't have any problems with the controlls. Never played it before either. The game uses all the numberkeys for the various phrases you need to say to your fellow Mudokons so I don't think a gamepad is well suited for it.

It was designed for a PS control pad, and pads work fine. If you are frustrated it is because of the RUTHLESS AND EVIL 90's design philosophy behind it, where you have to figure out, usually by trial and error, often up to 30-something time sensitive moves in order to get past a section. The control scheme never stops you from doing anything, but it does ask you to learn how to use it before you can do anything - a learning curve most modern games work hard to remove.

Is this design philosophy a good thing? Or a thankfully 'non-contemporary' thing? Buggered if I know. I love oddworld. I hate oddworld. I love oddworld. I hate oddwo...

Like I said, I like trial and error, but don't feel like in VVVVVV or Another World or Super Meat Boy I am struggling with the controls so much as the actual game. There is nothing fun in artificially implementing control problems to increase the difficulty (and i HATE the old Resident Evils.)

I don't know, the Resident Evils bother me because you play as a human who seems to be incompetent at basic tasks like walking. Abe's inability to turn around fast like a ninja doesn't bug me nearly as much because a) like I said earlier, it provides you with specific windows to do certain actions (i.e., if you're not meant to complete a thing by turning around fastly, you won't do it no matter how much you try), and b) he looks gangly and awkward and like he's done nothing but push mops most of his life, which is the case. Some of Oddworld's sections are like parkour courses -- I couldn't do them, and it's silly to expect Abe to.

Of course, that all lies on the fact that I've bought into the world. Those arguments don't hold water when applied to Mario.